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914World.com _ 914World Garage _ front trunk springs
Posted by: rgolia Apr 19 2013, 12:45 PM
I was told these were new when I ordered them......gotta love this. The good news is that they said they will refund my money including shipping.
I have purchased many things from AA over the years and have been satisfied most of the time...not all, but this is not good practice if you want to keep clients. One spring is a good inch longer than the other and the longer one is bent and clearly messed up. And then there is the shitty paint job....really. 
Posted by: ThePaintedMan Apr 19 2013, 12:52 PM
I was told these were new when I ordered them......gotta love this. The good news is that they said they will refund my money including shipping.
I have purchased many things from AA over the years and have been satisfied most of the time...not all, but this is not good practice if you want to keep clients. One spring is a good inch longer than the other and the longer one is bent and clearly messed up. And then there is the shitty paint job....really.
If it were me, I could care less about whether I got my money back or not. The fact is AA is full of screw ups. And I refuse to accept the excuse that it's just the young college dudes that Herr Georg hires for cheap labor. They're getting the instruction to make those kinds of decisions from somewhere. Hence, I will not order from them, and I try to educate new owners that there are plenty of other, better vendors to deal with. Go ahead,
me, but there are enough stories here now to warrant my opinion (including my own experience). A new part is a new part. A part that is cleaned up, even really nice and repainted is NOT a new part.
Posted by: tadink Apr 19 2013, 01:01 PM
I've got a pair that I just took off - happy to sell them for 50% of whatever you paid for that lot!
lemme know
td
Posted by: ripper911 Apr 19 2013, 01:45 PM
Hello, Kevin from AA here. I suppose I am the "young college dude" that was mentioned above, even though I graduated college around eight years ago... 
If you are not happy with what you received you could try calling 
, it would get you a much better response that posting out of anger. This has been brought to my attention, and I do remember the springs. We were instructed to clean them up as much as possible before sending. They were cleaned and painted then given to me for your order, I sent them without noticing that one was stretched a bit. You were charged for used, not for new.
If you would like a replacement set I would be happy to personally find you a good pair and have them cleaned up for you. I could even take pictures of a few and you could pick which ones you want.
They are going to stretch when you install them anyhow, have you tried fitting them to see if it makes a difference? 
BTW: If anybody here has issues with their orders feel free to send me a PM, I'll look into it for you. I can also place orders for you and keep you updated as to their status.
Posted by: SLITS Apr 19 2013, 02:18 PM
They are going to stretch when you install them anyhow, have you tried fitting them to see if it makes a difference?
Wrong Kevin .... maybe over a period of time, but not immediately.
Posted by: biosurfer1 Apr 19 2013, 02:20 PM
You were charged for used, not for new.
So that makes it ok? Tell someone they are getting new springs but send them used crap, but its ok because you only charged them for something they didn't want in the first place?
Seems like just another thread in a long line of typical AA bull$hit, full of over promising and under performing.
Posted by: Scott S Apr 19 2013, 02:39 PM
"I was told these were new when I ordered them......"
Kevin,
this statement alone gives you absolutely no grounds for any sort of excuse.
Just stop.
Posted by: ThePaintedMan Apr 19 2013, 02:54 PM
Kevin,
My rant was not directed at you, and I know you only recently started there. But it is well known that Mr. Hussey has selected at least part of his staff in the past based on the fact that could get cheaper labor from younger guys, who perhaps, don't know these cars as well as someone like yourself, nor have the business ethic that you may.
I trust that you have good intentions while working there, but you have a long, arduous uphill battle ahead of you to mend the mistakes that have been made before.
Good luck.
Posted by: DBCooper Apr 19 2013, 03:00 PM
Kevin, that's why people frequent boards, to learn everything about their cars, how to fix them, what suppliers are good, which aren't, whose wife is hot, where to go for whatever... That's just the way it is, the reason we all (except maybe you) come here. Please, understand that, and notice that some vendors have sterling reputations, others don't. There are reasons for that. It isn't the people here, we just talk, it's the vendors.
I should add that no vendor is perfect, people make mistakes, that's a fact and we all know it. The measure that sticks is how those mistakes are rectified. You seem to be doing it right, so good job, but that's not always been the case.
Posted by: ripper911 Apr 19 2013, 03:09 PM
Wrong Kevin .... maybe over a period of time, but not immediately.
Ok, I was just asking, I'm no mechanic...
I agree that they look bad and if I had noticed it before they left I would have said something about it. It's gets busy around here, they looked good at a glance."I was told these were new when I ordered them......"
Kevin,
this statement alone gives you absolutely no grounds for any sort of excuse.
Just stop.
I don't talk to customers, or take phone orders. I'm sure they would have told him that the springs have been NLA for quite a while and that the only option was used. If not, that's a whole nuther kettle of fish.
All we can do at this point is offer to replace them with a pair in better condition or give a refund. Hopefully the OP will let me know what he wants to do.
Posted by: SLITS Apr 19 2013, 04:48 PM
Sorry Kevin ... didn't mean it to mean I was ripping you. I was just imparting information. Spring steel takes a while to lose its' tension. The spring that was shipped had been stretched beyond its' capability to return to its' manufactured form.
Posted by: 914itis Apr 19 2013, 04:53 PM
Hello, Kevin from AA here. I suppose I am the "young college dude" that was mentioned above, even though I graduated college around eight years ago... If you are not happy with what you received you could try calling
, it would get you a much better response that posting out of anger. This has been brought to my attention, and I do remember the springs. We were instructed to clean them up as much as possible before sending. They were cleaned and painted then given to me for your order, I sent them without noticing that one was stretched a bit. You were charged for used, not for new.If you would like a replacement set I would be happy to personally find you a good pair and have them cleaned up for you. I could even take pictures of a few and you could pick which ones you want.
They are going to stretch when you install them anyhow, have you tried fitting them to see if it makes a difference?
BTW: If anybody here has issues with their orders feel free to send me a PM, I'll look into it for you. I can also place orders for you and keep you updated as to their status.
BS, I tried that, when i justify the mistake there was no more replies. I am so frustrated with AA, they know that they are pissing off customers and they are not doing anything about it because we still go back into buying the craps. I love my cars but if AA becomes the only source for parts I am done with them.
Posted by: rgolia Apr 22 2013, 03:24 PM
Guys,
I did not mean to start one of these bash AA threads...just wanted to get it out there that AA trunk springs are not new and that you can get a bad deal if you go there. I have purchased a lot of parts from AA over the years and for the most part I have been satisfied. This set of springs did not fall into the category of satisfied. One good thing that came of this is that AA (Leo) called me. I say that is good because the most important thing a company has to do is care about what they sell along with client satisfaction. Perhaps there is a move at AA to improve how and what they sell and improve client satisfaction....I certainly hope so as they do supply many parts for our cars. I will continue to purchase from them and if they give me a crappy part I will let everyone know about it....Only time will tell.
In any case, I have springs coming from one of our members here and I am sure they will be as advertised. We are all entitled to our opinions and encouraged to share...that is what makes this a great community to be part of.
Now if I can just get my fuchs back from the refinisher...I will be driving 
Posted by: '73-914kid Apr 22 2013, 04:11 PM
Why do people even bothering ordering from AA? I've never ordered, and never will.. sorta like Motor Meister.. why risk getting beaten up over this kind of stuff?
Posted by: monkeyboy Apr 22 2013, 04:22 PM
I have gotten pretty good service from them over the years. Even visited the shop when I was out there for work. They aren't as bad a people here like to say, but they aren't always the best place to get things either.
A lot of people on this site are quick to bash them, even if they have no experience with them.
Posted by: Mblizzard Apr 22 2013, 06:01 PM
We all make mistakes in our jobs and daily life's. But when you are selling things to the public, you have to understand and assume that your customers talk. When selling is what puts food on your table, your margin for error as a vendor is small. Few companies really understand that bad press is more expensive than doing it right.
I was done wrong by AA many years ago. Based on that, I have made a point to never buy from them and to tell others about my experience. While I don't think that I hurt AAs bottom line in the least, I do know that I have steered a number of customers to other sources over the years.
It is AAs job to get it right period. Especially when it comes to selling used parts as new. That mix up should never happen regardless of how busy things are. If it does, then the only ethical approach is to immediately take responsibility and make it right. My experience with AA showed me that was not the way they liked to do business so I took my money else where.
AA needs a make it right person to follow behind all of their sales people to clean up the messes they make. This forum reaches a lot of people and those people value the information and opinions the read here. Every vendor has to start changing their thinking in this age of instant communication. That one person may wind up causing more dollars to go somewhere else than the dollars it would take to make it right.
I hope that is the impact I have had on AA.
Posted by: Rob-O Apr 22 2013, 08:45 PM
I stopped purchasing there in 1989, pre-Internet days. Because of something similar to this. But no need to bash at this point, people know the score.
What I will say is that an extremely lucrative opportunity was missed because of the years of bad customer service. While PB Tweeks, Mid-America, Automotion, Performance Parts and others have either died, been consumed by another entity or moved their focus to other makes and models, imagine the monopoly on the 914 parts market that George would have at this very moment. Instead, it left the door open for HPH, Pelican, PMB (Eric) and 914Rubber (Mikey914), who have all done extremely well based on their excellent t products and even better customer service.
THAT'S what I think of when I think about this situation. A perfect scenario to put a stranglehold on this particular business space and it was missed.
Posted by: gothspeed Apr 22 2013, 09:47 PM
AA is about 50/50 at best, that you may get what you expect. Everytime I try them 'again' ... they quickly remind me why I shouldn't order from them at all 
Posted by: PanelBilly Apr 22 2013, 11:39 PM
AA has helped me out a couple of times. They made a few mistakes too, but I make mistakes all the time.
Posted by: porsche913b_sp Apr 22 2013, 11:40 PM
So the person packaging it didn't think anything was wrong and shipped it along its way 
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